# chunk

Pronunciation: say "CHUNK" /t͡ʃʌŋk/

## Noun

1. A squat, thick, irregular piece broken or separated from something larger, such as wood or stone.
   - Simple: A thick, solid piece broken off from something bigger, such as wood or stone.
   - _The woodcutter split a heavy chunk from the fallen oak._
   - _Chunks of ice drifted past the boat as the glacier calved._
2. A sizable part or amount of something.
   - Simple: A big part or amount of something.
   - _The project took up a sizable chunk of the company's budget._
   - _He devoted a significant chunk of his career to that research._
4. A discrete segment of a file or data stream, often one representing audiovisual media; a block.
   - Simple: A separate piece of a computer file or stream of data.
   - _The streaming protocol sends each chunk only after the previous one is acknowledged._
   - _Corrupted chunks caused the audio to stutter during playback._
5. A segment of a comedian's performance, performed as a self-contained portion of the routine.
   - Simple: A part of a comedian's act, usually about one topic.
   - _The comedian cut a chunk about politics from her late-night set._
   - _That chunk on parenting kills with younger crowds._
8. In linguistics, a group of two or more words that frequently occur together but do not form an idiom.
   - Simple: A group of words that often appear together but don't form a saying.
   - _Corpus tools can identify the most common chunk in a given genre._
   - _Spoken English is full of recurring chunks like "do you want to"._

## Verb

3. To break something into large pieces or chunks.
   - Simple: To break something into large, thick pieces.
   - _The recipe says to chunk the squash before roasting it._
   - _He chunked the firewood into pieces small enough for the stove._
6. To break down language or information into conceptual pieces of a manageable size.
   - Simple: To break information into small parts that are easier to learn.
   - _Good instructors chunk complex material so students can absorb it gradually._
   - _The tutor chunked the grammar rules into themed lessons._
7. To deal a large, substantial amount of damage to an opponent in a single attack.
   - Simple: To hurt an opponent badly with one big hit in a game.
   - _A fully charged shot can chunk the enemy before they even react._
   - _He chunked the tank with one well-timed ultimate._
9. To remove a piece or chunk from the surface or body of something.
   - Simple: To take a piece or part out of something.
   - _The collision chunked the curb where the truck mounted it._
   - _Stray gravel can chunk the paint on a new car._
10. To throw something. *(dialectal, Southern US)*
   - Simple: To toss or throw something.
   - _The kids chunked pebbles at the old fence all afternoon._
   - _Chunk that empty can into the recycling bin._

## Noun

11. Archaic form of chank. *(archaic)* — Archaic form of chank (“type of spiral shell”).
   - Simple: Archaic form of chank. It is an old way of writing the name for a kind of spiral sea shell.

## Origin

Chunk is thought to be a variant of "chuck," or alternatively a diminutive of "chump" (meaning a chunk or block) with a small diminutive ending -k, much as "hunk" comes from "hump."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/chunk (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).